The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on 4 July 1988. Brazil became the first nation to win four World Cup titles when they beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra time, the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The official match ball was the Adidas Questra.

The 1994 World Cup broke the average attendance record with nearly 69,000, a feat that still stands today.[1][2] The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams (and from 52 to 64 matches) in the 1998 World Cup.[1] Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made their first appearances in the finals; with Norway making its first appearance since 1938, and Bolivia since 1950. Bulgaria, Morocco and Mexico returned after missing the last tournament.

Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. Russia, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, also qualified. The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup.

As a result of the strong performances by African teams in 1990, Africa was given three spots for the first time, with Nigeria joining Cameroon and Morocco.

Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950, and Switzerland for the first time since 1966.

The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1992, and the team completed its qualifying group under the name "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks" (RCS), but failed to qualify for the finals. Yugoslavia was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chile's suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the forced interruption of their qualification match against Brazil, extended to the 1994 qualifiers as well.

Japan failed to qualify after the Agony of Doha against Iraq, losing out to Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Among other teams who failed to qualify were Uruguay and England. Denmark, Hungary and France failed to qualify for the second successive tournament, while Scotland failed to qualify for the first time since 1970. This was the only World Cup finals since 1938 for which neither England nor Scotland (nor indeed any of the British home nations) qualified. The Republic of Ireland qualified for a second successive World Cup finals tournament. As of 2014[update], this was the last time that Bolivia qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals.

Three nations bid for host duties, United States, Brazil and Morocco.[3] The vote was held in Zurich on 4 July 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members.[3] FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport. One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league; Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. The U.S. staged a hugely successful tournament, with average attendance of nearly 69,000 breaking a record that surpassed the 1966 FIFA World Cup average attendance of 51,000 thanks to the large seating capacities the stadiums in the United States provided for the spectators in comparison to the smaller venues of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France.[1][2] Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the final draw that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 19 December 1993.[4]

The format of the competition stayed the same as in the 1990 World Cup: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout phase: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. This World Cup was the first in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two. FIFA instituted this feature to encourage attacking soccer after the defensive display of many teams at Italia '90.

The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having played in the 1982, the 1986—where he led Argentina to the World Cup title—and the 1990 World Cups, where he led them to the final. Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test which uncovered ephedrine, a weight loss drug, in his blood. Colombia, despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign, disappointed in the tournament, failed to advance from the round robin. The team was supposedly dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection. Defender Andrés Escobar was a tragic figure of this tournament, as in the group stage match against the United States, he scored an own goal that eliminated his team. Escobar was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellín suburb only 10 days later, apparently in retaliation for the own goal.[5]

Lothar Matthäus scoring a penalty kick in Germany's quarterfinal against Bulgaria at Giants Stadium on 10 July. Bulgaria came back to win the match.

On the field, the biggest surprise of the tournament was Bulgaria. The Bulgarians had never won a match in five previous World Cup finals but, led by Hristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group matches to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico. Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarterfinals, where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semifinals and third-place match, respectively.

The United States advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. They played Brazil and, despite a 1–0 defeat, the United States' performance was considered a great success in their soccer history.

Brazil's win over the hosts helped take them to the final against Italy. While Brazil's path was relatively smooth as they defeated the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and Sweden in the semis, the Italians had made hard work of reaching the final. During the group stage Italy struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland. Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio, who was expected to be one of the stars of the tournament, had not yet scored a goal. During the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1–0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the tying goal, forcing the game into extra time. He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semifinal victory over Bulgaria.[6]

The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup. These teams had also previously met in the qualifying group. Sweden won convincingly with a 4–0 victory. Swedish forward Tomas Brolin was named to the All-star team.[7]

The final match at the Rose Bowl was tense, but devoid of scoring chances. It was the second time in 24 years that both nations met in a final. Despite the strategies implemented by FIFA to promote offensive play, both teams failed to produce a goal. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3–2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive.[6] He missed by shooting it over the crossbar, and the Brazilians were crowned champions for the fourth time.[8] After the match ended the then-Vice-PresidentAl Gore hosted the awarding ceremony by handing Brazilian captain Dunga the prestigious trophy; the Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Brazilian Formula One champion Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior.

The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, the latter becoming the first player to score five goals in a match, coming in a 6–1 victory against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazilian striker Romário, with five goals, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.[8]

The official mascot of this World Cup was Striker, the World Cup Pup, a dog wearing a red, white and blue soccer uniform with a soccer ball.[9] Striker was designed by the Warner Bros. animation team.[10] A dog was picked as the mascot because dogs are a common pet animal in the United States.[10]

The games were held in nine cities across the country. All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53,000, and their usual tenants were professional or collegeAmerican football teams. The most used venue was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with eight games, among them the final, the third place match, a semifinal and a game of the Round of 16, followed by Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, which had one semifinal, a quarterfinal and a round of 16 match. The least used was the Pontiac Silverdome, the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup, with four Round 1 matches.

Squads were selected as usual following FIFA rules with 22 players. Greece, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Spain were the only countries who had all their players coming from domestic clubs, while the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria had no players from domestic clubs. Saudi Arabia were the only team with no players from European clubs.

The composition of the four pots was based on the FIFA World Ranking (established in 1993) and on the qualified teams' results in the three previous World Cups. The teams' pre-tournament rankings[11] are shown in parenthesis.

The Group A match between the United States and Switzerland would be the first ever to take place indoors, played under the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Following the tournament, Colombian defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead on his return to Colombia, after his own goal had contributed to his country's elimination.

Victories against Colombia and the United States (in front of a crowd of 93,869) were enough to see Romania through as group winners, despite a 4–1 hammering by Switzerland in between. The magnitude of that victory allowed Switzerland to move ahead of the United States on goal difference, although the hosts qualified for the second round as one of the best third-placed teams.

Switzerland's 4–1 victory over Romania came nearly 40 years to the date of Switzerland's last World Cup victory, which was 23 June 1954 and that was also a 4–1 victory over Italy. The United States' 2–1 victory over Colombia was its first World Cup victory since 29 June 1950 when it upset England 1–0 in the 1950 World Cup.

Group B produced two of the four semifinalists of this World Cup, and was also one of the two groups in which two, rather than three, sides would progress to the second round. Brazil and Sweden proved to be far stronger than Cameroon and Russia in every department. The match between the latter two broke two World Cup records. Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first – and remains the only – man ever to score five goals in a single World Cup match as Russia ran out 6–1 winners against their African opponents. The goals also ensured that Salenko finished the tournament joint-top scorer with six goals, having previously bagged one against Sweden. Cameroon left a mark too as Roger Milla, at the age of 42, became the oldest World Cup goalscorer of all time as he grabbed his side's consolation goal in the match. The result was not enough to take Russia through following heavy defeats at the hands of both Brazil and Sweden. Brazil overcame Cameroon with similar ease before a draw with Sweden confirmed top spot.

The Swedes also progressed, finishing in second place with five points. Sweden's 3–1 victory over Russia was the nation's first World Cup victory since 3 July 1974.

As was the case with Group B, Group C would only send two teams into the Round of 16 as Spain and defending champions Germany progressed to round two. Coming from two goals down with four minutes left to snatch a 2–2 draw against Spain, the Koreans very nearly eclipsed that feat against Germany when they came from 3–0 down to lose narrowly 3–2. In spite of these comebacks, South Korea were held to a 0–0 draw against Bolivia in their other group match when a win would have seen them through. Spain's late implosion against the Koreans effectively decided that it would be Germany who won the group and not them.

Germany, who defeated Bolivia 1–0 in the tournament's opening match, finished with seven points. Spain had to settle for second place despite leading in all three matches.

Bolivia did make history in the World Cup as Erwin Sanchez scored the nation's first ever World Cup goal after not scoring at both the 1930 and 1950 World Cups.

Argentina collected a maximum of six points from their opening two matches after beating Greece 4–0 in Foxboro before coming from behind to overcome the feisty Nigerians 2–1 on the same field four days later, yet still only finished third. The match against Greece had been won in style thanks mainly to a hat-trick from Gabriel Batistuta, yet it was the other goal in the match – from Diego Maradona – that hit the headlines. Nigeria had been very impressive on their World Cup debut, and despite the narrow loss to Argentina, had emerged as group winners following victories against Bulgaria and Greece, the latter in which Nigeria doubled its lead late on a goal from Daniel Amokachi – a goal that would allow Nigeria to top its group.

Having qualified for the tournament through a last-gasp goal against France, Bulgaria surprised many people, as the nation never even won a single match at the World Cup finals prior to this tournament. Despite losing its opening game 3–0 to Nigeria, Bulgaria came back in style to thrash Greece 4–0 (who had suffered exactly the same fate five days earlier against Argentina) and a win against Argentina had seen them advance. Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury-time, while Bulgaria played the last 25 minutes with 10 men; however, a 91st-minute header from Nasko Sirakov meant that Argentina dropped two places and finished third. Nigeria won the group on goal difference. Bulgaria's victory over Argentina granted them second place.

Group E remains the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same points. It began when Ray Houghton's chip ensured that Ireland would gain revenge on Italy by reversing a 1–0 scoreline the Italians had beaten them by in the quarterfinals of the previous World Cup. The next day in Washington, Norway played its first World Cup match since 1938 and Kjetil Rekdal scored five minutes from time proved decisive in an equally tense encounter as Norway beat Mexico.

Mexico however was much more comfortable playing in Orlando, the setting for their next match against Ireland, where the heat proved to be a key factor. Garcia's double had them 2–0 up and in control of the game before a disagreement on the touchline resulted in fines for both Republic of Ireland's manager, Jack Charlton, and their striker John Aldridge. Fortunately for Ireland, Aldridge was able to re-gain concentration in time to score six minutes from the end of the game. Though Ireland still lost the match 2–1, Aldridge's goal proved crucial in the final group standings.

The previous day in New Jersey, Italy's World Cup hopes seemed to be diminishing fast as goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off with the game still at 0–0. Yet despite this, Italy were still able to salvage an important 1–0 victory. Norway would ultimately pay a price for their inability to take advantage of Pagliuca's dismissal. With the four teams level on points, the final two group matches would each have to finish as draws for things to stay that way. Republic of Ireland made it through after a dreary 0–0 draw with Norway; midfielders Massaro and Bernal traded strikes as Italy and Mexico played to a 1–1 draw.

Those results meant that Mexico won the group on goals scored, with three in the group. With Ireland and Italy also progressing having finished with identical records, Ireland finished ahead of Italy because of Ireland's victory over Italy. Norway's shortcomings in attack had ultimately let them down and exited the tournament with only one goal.

Just as happened to Argentina in Group D, Belgium endured the same fate in Group F. Despite winning its first two World Cup matches 1–0 to Morocco and the Netherlands, Belgium finished third as, in an upset, it lost to tournament newcomers Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the third match: a match which Saudi player Saaed Al-Owairian ran from his own half through a maze of Belgian players to score the game's only goal.

Saudi Arabia also advanced through to the Round of 16 as well having also defeated Morocco 2–1. The Netherlands endured a somewhat nervier experience. The opening 2–1 victory against Saudi Arabia was followed by the 1–0 loss against Belgium before another 2–1 victory against Morocco, with Bryan Roy scoring the winner a mere 12 minutes from time, saw the Dutch win the group because of having scored more goals against Belgium and Saudi Arabia. Morocco, despite losing all 3 of their group matches, did not leave without a fight, as each of their losses were by just 1 goal each, 1–0 to Belgium, 2–1 to Saudi Arabia, and also 2–1 to the Netherlands.

Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first player to score 5 goals in a single World Cup finals game in his country's group stage win over Cameroon. Cameroon's Roger Milla also scored a goal in the same match, becoming the oldest player to score a goal in a World Cup. At 42, he was also the oldest player to appear in a World Cup match. That record lasted 20 years, as it was then surpassed by Faryd Mondragón (43 years, 3 days) of Colombia in their match against Japan at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

For the first time, during the entering of the players to the pitch, the FIFA Anthem, composed by Franz Lambert, was played.

Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup Finals match, dismissed for handling outside his area against Norway.

Brazil's 11 goals in their seven games was a record for the lowest average goals scored per game for any World Cup-winning side, but this was bettered by Spain's eight goals in 2010. The three goals Brazil conceded in those seven games was at the time also the lowest average goals conceded per game, although this was subsequently surpassed by France in 1998, Italy in 2006, and Spain in 2010.

The finals were the first time FIFA decided to experiment with the style of jerseys worn by officials, foregoing the traditional black. They could choose between burgundy, yellow or silver shirts depending on what was feasible to avoid a clash of colors with the two competing teams. This custom has since been followed, but with black shirts added as an option later.

The finals were also the first time that players had their shirt numbers printed on the center front (or in on the right or left breast, in Morocco's and Russia's case respectively) of the shirt, as well as their names printed in the back of their jerseys in a World Cup, just like other American sports did, to make their identification easier for sportscasters. This custom followed from Euro 92, and has followed ever since (although the numbers printed on the center front were experimented during 1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Portugal).

The finals were the first to award 3 points for a win in the group stage to motivate teams to play an attacking style.

In disciplinary matters, for the first time yellow cards accumulated in the group stage were wiped clean after its completion, and players start with a clean slate at the start of the knockout stage. Previously, players were suspended for one match if accumulating two yellow cards throughout the tournament. Now, players were suspended for one match if accumulating two yellow cards in the group stage, or two yellow cards in the knockout stage. This was in response to the situation in 1990, where players such as Claudio Caniggia and Paul Gascoigne were suspended for the later matches.

The 1994 World Cup revolutionized television coverage of sports in the United States through the sponsored scoreboard and game clock that were constantly shown on screen throughout the game. Television sports coverage in the US had long been dependent upon commercial breaks; a feature suitable for sports such as baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football (which all have breaks in the action), but long considered incompatible with soccer, due to the long stretches of uninterrupted play. Variations on it were quickly incorporated into virtually every team sports broadcast by the decade's end. The first American pro sports broadcaster to do this was Fox Sports which won national rights to broadcast the NFL's National Football Conference from CBS 6½ months before the 1994 World Cup began.

The 1994 World Cup final is the only scoreless final in World Cup history. It was the first to be tied after extra time and decided by a penalty shootout, the other being the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. Italy took part in both matches and won the latter.

This was the last World Cup in which matches other than the last two in each group were played simultaneously, although this only happened once in this tournament; Saudi Arabia v Morocco and Belgium v Netherlands in Group F. From France '98 onwards, each game in the first two rounds of group play and the whole knockout stage have been played separately to maximize television audiences.

This was the last World Cup featuring 24 nations, and the last in which third-placed teams were still able to progress to the round of 16. From 1998 on, there were 32 nations, with only the top two in each group progressing.